Education and Outreach
Most scientists have a damn hard time relating to “regular people” and sometimes just dealing with non-scientists can be painful. Some call this behavior elitist; I say it’s impatience.
Science is like the Brussels sprouts on a child’s dinner plate. Just like a mom insisting her child eats his veggies; the American public is needs to learn science. Scientists can take a page from creative moms – dress up the veggies in cute arrangements and serve with ranch dressing. In other words, we've got to make the science lessons more relevant to the public. Give them something that's appealing. “Framing” science information may be our best strategy for getting people (of all ages) to gulp down more science.
Beginning this school year, 2007-2008, public school districts must test students in science at least once in each academic level (elementary, junior high, and high school). Regrettably, our nation’s schools have always been challenged to offer quality science education to its students, especially those from poor school districts in rural and inner-cities.
U.S. House of Representatives Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas recently made comments about the imperative need to improve this nation's competitiveness in the science and technology workforce by taking the necessary steps to educate under-represented minority citizens.
I lost a childhood friend yesterday. Don Herbert, better known as Mr. Wizard has died.
The New York Times obituary notes:
Mr. Herbert held no advanced degree in science, he used household items in his TV lab, and his assistants were boys and girls. But he became an influential showman-science teacher on his half-hour “Watch Mr. Wizard” programs, which ran on NBC from 1951 to 1965.
Millions of youngsters may have been captivated by Howdy Doody and the Lone Ranger, but many were also conducting science experiments at home, emulating Mr. Wizard.
I was one of those millions, and I want to use my blog to say farewell and thank you from "Dr. Fred."
"Resistance to science has important social implications, because a scientifically ignorant public in unprepared to evaluated polices about global warming, genetically modified organisms, stem cell research, and cloning." Many Americans are resistant to learn about new technologies, evolution and natural selection, or complicated health care issues. Why? Because people have a hard-time accepting information that conflicts with their personal construct and understanding of the world.
What's the good of blogging if you can't brag once in a while.
My book Beyond Jupiter: The Story of Planetary Astronomer Heidi Hammel is the current featured book on the Astronomical Society of the Pacific's web site.
Dr. James Sherley has been dealing with obstacles to his success as a scientist and academic with the department of Biological Engineering at MIT. Although his story in unfortunate, that type of frustration is routinely experienced by many African-American scientists and graduate students. Such treatment and behavior creates unnecessary barriers to success. What a pity, because such unpleasant experiences can actually deter promising African-Americans (and others) from pursuing careers in science and academia.
Two ninth graders from the Chicago Public School District were chosen to work along side archaeologists from the Field Museum of Chicago in Kenya this summer. The trip is being sponsored by Ernst & Young, the major benefactor of the charter school the students attend.
"African-Americans make up 13 percent of the United States population, but comprise only 5 percent of those employed in the life, physical, and social sciences. Or with this: less than 3 percent of Ph.D.s in biology and chemistry are held by African-Americans. Different statistics pepper various reports, but none dispute the central fact, that African-Americans do not hold life science jobs in numbers commensurate with their representation in the US population."
Recently, Time Magazine and Ebony Magazine (the largest Black general interest periodical) published a list of the "Most Influential People in the World/America". The number of Black scientists on both lists were unsurprisingly low. Time listed 2 black scientists, Ebony listed 1. (Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was on both lists). But both lists beg the question: How can we showcase the scientific contributions made by minorities to the general public?
MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and IBM have announced the recent completion of the first course in the United States structured around the capabilities of the Cell Broadband Engine (Cell/B.E.), the microprocessor that powers the new PlayStation3 computer entertainment system.
